It took almost two years for real estate broker and Crossroads volunteer Jeff White to build an affordable home out of recycled shipping containers. A lot of opposition came from the architects he approached to help him with the plans, though there were also quite a few bureaucratic obstacles to overcome to get the necessary permits. But now the Sarah container home is finally built and ready for occupancy. Jeff was inspired to build the home after seeing the makeshift dwelling of a homeless San Francisco artist named Sarah, and he named his creation after her.Read more »

Judging from the photo above you would probably never guess that this lovely cabin is actually an RV, and that it can be towed to pretty much anywhere on a whim. The timber-clad Escape cottage measures 400 square feet, and is the right weight and size to be considered an RV. It was designed as a portable house on wheels, but can also easily become a permanent home for the owners.Read more »

The La Jolla, CA home of Jill and Jack Nooren recently received the highest LEED certification awarded to homes, LEED Platinum. The home took three years to build and is a true example of energy efficiency, sustainability and design. The house was designed by domusstudio architecture and built by the Hill Construction Company. The 2,350-square-foot, four-bedroom, four-and-a-half-bath home also won a 2013 American Institute of Architects (AIA) Merit Award for its innovative mild-climate building and design approach, which brings together outdoor and indoor spaces seamlessly.

On January 1, 2014 the federal ban on manufacturing 40- and 60-watt incandescent bulbs went into effect. One of the main implications of this ban is that consumers are slowly going to be forced to opt for LED or CFL light bulbs. However, the shape, cost and light quality of LED light bulbs has not made them very popular with consumers thus far. Philips aims to change that by releasing an innovative LED light bulb, which is called SlimStyle, retails for less than $10 and is flat.

Hank Butitta converted a typical yellow school bus into a small mobile dwelling for his grad school Master Final Project. He bought the school bus on Craigslist for $3000, and invested another $6000 into its transformation into mobile home. All together, this is less than a downpayment on a home, and the school bus can function as a normal house.

The transformation started with breaking down the bus into 4 sections, namely the bathroom, kitchen, seating area, and bedroom. Since the window bays in a school bus are evenly spaced, the interior space can be broken down into modular units of 28 square inches, which also leaves space for a center aisle that is also 28 inches wide.

When young Alex Finnell was challenged by his parents to design an “age in place” home for them and his 95-year old grandmother, he set about helping them to achieve their goal of living in their own home late into their retirement years while being as safe, independent, and comfortable as possible.